Hot and Tired

We spent many many long hot hours yesterday working on the flower bed the plumbers dug up to fix our water main. Skipper came over to help, because she is a saint. First we laid in a bunch of stone borders and paths--both to shape the space and to give us access to all of it without squashing stuff. Then Skipper and Sean worked on replanting the stuff we were trying to save, plus a few new additions, while I worked on some other stuff. It's almost done--just need to plunk down a little bit more stone, replant the last few plants, get some bark, fix the sprinklers, buy a bunch more plants--ok, I guess we're not really done at all. But we did a crapload of work yesterday.

Today we're very tired, so went to see Wall-E. It really was nice sitting in the air conditioning and eating popcorn. I don't think I'm really in the target audience for this movie, so I'm not going to say much else. But I'm damn sure that when we get our robot butler, it's not allowed to watch musicals, because apparently a little visual stimulation is all it takes to make robots whore off across the universe hoping to get laid.

Insects Are Just Like You And Me Except Some of Them Have Wings

Shimmer contributor Kuzhali Manickavel's debut collection, Insects Are Just Like You And Me Except Some of Them Have Wings, is now available! I'm really excited about this, because Kuzhali's a terrific writer. Her story Sour Hands was in our debut issue, and Flying and Falling appears in the Art issue. Flying and Falling is also in this collection.

The book is currently available through Amazon and Target. Temporarily out of stock, but I'm not going to let that get in the way of ordering one. Can't wait to read it!

I give up!

Here's how the past few days have gone:

Thursday, the sprinkler guy came to fix our ancient broken sprinkler system. He had to run new wires from the control panel out to the valve boxes. Fun! And the sprinklers still sucked because our water pressure's strangely low lately.

Friday, we discovered a ginormous black widow by the basement door (uh, the *broken* basement door, damn it; gotta fix that soon). It is the size of a Volvo. It is the size of Kentucky. I am pretty tolerant of bugs and such, but this monster was just wrong. It does not belong in my HOUSE.

Saturday, the nice exterminator came by and took care of it. Saturday night, as we were settling in to bed, an assassin bug bit my stomach. Argh! I know they're beneficial and chow down on lots of other bugs, but it does not belong in my BED. So that night we thought, hmm, perhaps our plan to go to Africa for a while is not going to work out so well. I hear there are bugs there.

Today, we learned that that ominous rumbling sound we'd been hearing for a few days is actually a ginormous leak in our water main. Oh, so that's why our water pressure has been low... Our water is currently shut off, and the plumber set up a temporary line to our neighbor's water. Still need to get some more opinions, but it looks like we're going to need to dig up the front yard and replace the main. Hmm, Africa is also not known for its fabulous plumbing.

So what we're going to do is just sell everything and move to Iceland. That is looking like a more and more reasonable option every day.

Skateboard update

Today Sean and I went to the big parking lot by the University stadium to get in some more skateboard practice. The parking lot behind our house is pretty uneven, lots of cracks and so on, but this one's in really good shape. I'm starting to get the hang of this.

Sean sort of trots along beside me so I can grab him if I get too wobbly. I am sure that increases the dorkiness factor by about 200% but whatever works. I need training wheels for now. But I've graduated from hanging on to him tightly to just having him within grabbing distance. It's progress.

Still fun.

It's harder than it looks!

Lately, I've been taking the train to work. It's actually a decent option: it's a fairly short walk, and I get to read.

But I don't like walking. It just seems so slow.... and every time I'm out walking somewhere, I see Kids These Days zipping by on their skateboards, and man, that looks like so much more fun than walking.

So Sean got me a skateboard, and I'm working on getting the hang of it. I have pretty decent balance and coordination (and good health insurance) so why not?

Because it's way harder than it looks, that's why not! Kids These Days make it look so easy! I make it look so dorky! And hard.

But it's fun; and it beats walking.

It's official...

The kitten's name seems to be Princess, which makes us official crazy cat people. God. I swear it was IRONIC when we started calling her that.

New kitteh!

So the other day, Sean tells me the feral cat at his school had kittens. "One has an orange face," he says. "We can call her Pumpkinface." So I knew we were getting a kitten.

In accordance with the Law of Kittens, she's adorable. She's settling in well, and has gone from being terrified (and hungry!) to being a fierce and curious little anklebiter.

I call her Pumpkinbutt.

She hasn't met the other critters yet; it'll be another week at least before we try that. The cats are pretty curious about what's going on in the spare bedroom.

Sorrowbird

Sean's story Sorrowbird is up at Fantasy. Go read! It's pretty terrific.

Another acceptance!

We've accepted "The Bride Price," by Richard S. Crawford. Richard was in our very first issue--I'm delighted to see him return for our 10th.

I've been ridiculously busy for the past few weeks. But now I'm as close to caught up as I've ever been, which feels great. But somehow my to-do list never gets smaller...

Recent Shimmery Acquisitions

We've recently acquired three new stories:

Counting Down to the End of the Universe, by Sara Genge
Firefly Igloo, by Caroline Yoachim
Blue Joe, by Stephanie Burgis

Three very different stories, but each perfect for us!

Lazy day!

As part of our week-long anniversary celebration, Sean and I declared Saturday to be Lazy Day. It was really lovely to just take some guilt-free time off. Sean made bagels (not exactly lazy, but yum!) and we had bacon sandwiches. I filled out the day with a nap and a movie. Mmmm.

Today, not so lazy, but it sure is easier to get stuff done when you come at it refreshed. I spent some time organizing files and such, wrote another 1500 words or so on The Chimpanzees of Mars, and still have enough brains to take on the flash challenge at Liberty Hall after dinner.

It's been a very good weekend.

Reviews of the Art Issue

For your weekend reading pleasure, a smattering of reviews of Shimmer's Art Issue:

Sam Tomino at SFRevu gives all the stories a Very Good.

Last Short Story calls "Penny Wise," by Kurt Kirchmeier, "well-written and engaging."

And in the latest IROSF, Lois Tilton gives "Monologue with Bird and Burin" by Daniel Rabuzzi, and "Flying and Falling" by Kuzhali Manicavel her coveted "recommended." Yay!

Rearranging the house . . . again.

We spent last Sunday rearranging the house. Sean and I have been sharing an office, but finally it was time for us each to get our own space. So we spent all day last Sunday rearranging things, and thought we had it worked out.

But no. It was not right.

So we spent all day Saturday trying again. This time we got smart and asked Skipper to come over and help after the first four or five hours... This is a pretty big house for two people, but there are enough architectural oddities to make it challenging.

But we did it. We found the right place for everything, and it's all flowing and clean and organized and comfortable. It was a crapload of work, but well worth it.

Today we've been busy doing almost nothing, which is lovely.

Congrats, Skipper!

Big congrats to Skipper, who just sold a story to Fantasy. It's particularly cool because she wrote the story as part of a Christmas present for me! I'm just delighted to see the story find such a good home.

Speaking of Fantasy, I really enjoyed this week's story--Petrella, by Charlene Brusso. I enjoy most of the stories I read there; Cat Rambo's doing a terrific job of picking stories.

Restorative Saturday

Yesterday was a good day. We slept in, then spent the afternoon wandering around at the zoo. I think my favorite this time was the Eastern Black and White Colobus monkeys--they have this lovely long hair, sort of like Afghan hounds. I also was also taken with the ginormous African porcupines.

In the evening, we had dinner with Shimmer author John Mantooth, in town for WHC. And we got to meet his writing group: Kurt, Petra, Kim, and Sam. They're sound on "all right," and are really fun; it was a terrific evening.

Today will be about being productive: cleaning the house, editing the stories, doing some writing, etc.

No World Horror for us

WHC is in SLC this year, and it seems silly not to go, eh? We'd been looking into helping out as volunteers for the con, but last weekend realized that we haven't had a "normal" weekend since early February. We had our trip to Radcon, and one or the other of us has been sick every weekend since; it's just ridiculous.

So no WHC for us; we're just going to kick back and enjoy not being sick.

But I'd love to have coffee or dinner with anyone who's in town for WHC.

The Fix review of The Art Issue

See what The Fix has to say about the Art issue.

J.C. Runolfson had some concerns about how we printed the art (Mary, our Art Director, has a few more thoughts about that), but mostly liked the stories. I think reviews that point out both strengths and weaknesses are more interesting to read than reviews which are either all glowing, or merely summarize a story without taking a stand.

Nevertheless, I'm very pleased by the positive comments. Overall, "this is a solid example of good fantastical short fiction, and an issue of Shimmer well worth acquiring." Runolfson compares Aliette de Bodard to Patricia McKillip, admires Michael Livingston's "lyrically understated" writing which "conjures fully realized characters and a strong sense of place." And regarding Kuzhali Manickavel's "Flying and Falling":

That extra layer of doubt takes a beautiful magic realist story and gives
it extra bite, a perfect note on which to end an issue with such strong
themes of hope and the loss of it.

Lots of other interesting comments; go read the whole thing!

So tired of being sick . . .

I'm recovering from, I think, my 5th round of illness so far this year, and it's only March. WTF? We're both really ready to be healthy again.

On the plus side, I've managed to get a lot of reading done--that part, at least, is nice. But c'mon. Gimme a break. Enough with the stupid colds and flus already.

Angela Slatter on Pseudopod!

Angela Slatter's story "The Little Match Girl," published in Shimmer's Spring 2006 issue, is now up on Pseudopod. It's read by Dani Cutler. Go listen!

"The Little Match Girl" is one of my favorite Slatter stories; I'm really happy to see it get a new life.

Stories That Fail

I see this particular story structure fairly often, and it never works for me. Here's a completely made-up excerpt:

The demonic alien waved his tentacles at Roger. He screamed helplessly, but
there was nothing he could do: the alien's mind control held him completely
motionless. Then the alien forced him to pick up the gun and press it against
his temple. "You must die so that we can complete our plan to take over Earth,"
the alien said inside his skull. Roger wept silently as the alien made him
pull the trigger.

###

The sheriff looked down at Roger's body. "Sure is a shame when a nice young
man like that kills himself," he mused.

"Sheriff," said the young deputy. "What are these marks? It kind of looks like someone dragged a tentacle through the blood!"

"Son," said the sheriff, "you see all kinds of crazy things in this
business. Sure is a shame."

THE END

The biggest problem (among several) is that the author isn't trusting the reader. If the author has done his job in the first 4,000 words, we don't need another 500 words to let us know that Roger's dead, and that humanity has no idea about the impending alien threat. The author may think she's adding extra drama by showing the scene: but sometimes, letting us imagine the scene is even more powerful.

In other news from the slush mines, if the cover letter starts out "Dear Sir/Madam" or "To whom it may concern," the story is not going to be good.